Editor’s Note: Responses were edited for length and clarity. The Daily’s staff has not independently verified all facts.
The Daily sat down with Massachusetts Republican Senate nominee John Deaton on Oct. 5 to discuss his campaign. Deaton will face Democratic nominee Senator Ed Markey in November.
The Tufts Daily (TD): First off, tell me a bit about yourself outside of politics.
John Deaton (JD): I grew up extremely poor. A lot of people talk about poverty, but I grew up [in it]. My mother was born into intergenerational poverty herself. … My mother was a single mom on welfare and food stamps. I was born in a place called Highland Park, Detroit.
I played football, basketball, washed dishes, did whatever I could to pay for high school, and then college. [I] took a couple years off to save money to come to Boston. … [I] came to Boston, went to [New England Law Boston] [and] ended up joining the Marine Corps. … For the last 25 years, I’ve been representing people that get asbestos cancer, mesothelioma and lung cancer. I’ve been representing working families against the big multibillion-dollar companies that used asbestos and lied about it.
Now I’m running for office because when you learn my story, even Ed Markey would have to agree that my life is the embodiment of the American dream. … The reason I decided to run is because I sit back and I legitimately question: Could I accomplish today what I accomplished back then? Or a poor kid or a middle-class kid — have they been priced out of the economy?
TD: You’ve said that you believe [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] needs to be reformed, but not necessarily abolished, which is different from what Markey thinks. How exactly would you want ICE to be reformed? What would that look like?
JD: What I want to do is go back to the policies under Barack Obama … [which was] the Secure Communities policy, and that meant local law enforcement worked with federal immigration for bad guys. There was cooperation, and right now in Massachusetts there is zero cooperation. … And we’re not going to stop deporting people, right? In the eight years of Barack Obama, 3.1 million people were deported. Deportation is an absolutely necessary part of an overall immigration policy.
The vast majority of people [who] cross the border are good people. They want a better life, but there are some bad guys. … Let’s figure out a way to identify them, get them out and [not] harass someone who was brought here when they were five years old, and they’re [now] in school, or they’re working and they’re paying taxes.
Editor’s Note: The Secure Communities program was enacted by the George W. Bush administration in 2008 and expanded upon by the administration of Barack Obama. In 2014, Obama terminated the program. It was reinstated by President Donald Trump in 2017.
TD: Your platform includes making health care more accessible without raising taxes. How do you plan to do that?
JD: Health care is the number one issue in the country. It’s the number one issue in Massachusetts. … The reason Obamacare — the Affordable Care Act — was never going to be affordable for people was because it allowed … insurance companies that are vertically integrated, all the way from manufacturing to retail. … We need to break up those … companies using antitrust laws; break up the [pharmacy benefit managers] [and] have complete transparency on our drug pricing.
TD: Why do you oppose the Green New Deal, and what do you tell voters who care deeply about clean energy?
JD: I believe climate change is real. The Green New Deal actually extends our life on fossil fuels because it excludes one of the best technologies you can have, which is nuclear. [With] nuclear technology today — I’m talking these small modular reactors, the same technology that propels our nuclear submarine ships and our carriers — we could put four of them in Massachusetts, [and] it would power 40% of our 2.9 million residential homes. It would cut the energy cost in half, and it’s carbon net-free emissions. It is the most viable at scale, and Markey won’t even consider it. The Green New Deal doesn’t consider it; it excludes it.
Editor’s note: The 2019 Green New Deal resolution introduced by Markey and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not exclude nuclear energy. A FAQ document posted to Ocasio-Cortez’s website the day the resolution was released said the plan would not include new nuclear plants. Her office removed it the same day, calling it an unfinished draft that did not reflect the resolution. Neither of Markey’s current Green New Deal bills, the Green New Deal for Public Schools Act and the Green New Deal for Health Act, excludes nuclear energy.
TD: Are there any other important parts of your policy or platform you’d like to speak on?
JD: I have a five million homes in five years nationwide plan. … It just takes federal land and state land that’s not being utilized, and we basically work with developers to build that. We’re cutting the acquisition cost, and if you build five million homes in five years, the supply will help bring down the prices. A lot of people are leaving Massachusetts simply because the median home sale price is now $670,000 statewide. The greater Boston area is 1.1 million. [For] a college graduate or an electrician just starting out, how can they afford it?
TD: In just a sentence or two, why should people vote for you?
JD: They should vote for me because I understand the struggle that they’ve went through — from poverty, from cancer, from representing working families. What I really ask them to do is ask, why is Ed Markey calling me a MAGA Republican? … I’ve never voted for President Trump. … For years, they’ve been saying, “When is a Republican going to stand up to Trump?” And here I am, and their answer is, “Well, don’t vote for him. He’s a Republican.”
Editor's Note: Senator Markey’s campaign did not respond to several requests for a corresponding interview by publication.
